Roughnecks battle back to nab win

The Calgary Roughnecks' Wesley Berg, right and Tyler Digby chase down the Georgia Swarm's Chad Tutton during National Lacrosse League action at the Scotiabank Saddledome in Calgary on Saturday, Feb. 6, 2016. Gavin Young / Postmedia

At one point, midway through Saturday night’s affair at the Saddledome, it was looking more like a Weekend at Bernie’s, as the Georgia Swarm continued dragging around the Calgary Roughnecks’ lifeless corpse, a process that started Friday night in Saskatoon during an ugly loss to the Saskatchewan Rush.

But Bernie came alive and battled back.

The Roughnecks quickly turned an 8-3 halftime deficit into a game, clawing all the way back to tie the tilt 11-11 with under four minutes to play.

Then Greg Harnett, on Superhero Night at the Saddledome, struck.

Again.

One week after scoring the game-winner against the Vancouver Stealth, the heart-and-soul, meat and potatoes defender broke away from the pack in transition and beat Swarm netminder Brodie MacDonald to give the Roughnecks a 12-11 lead.

The Calgary Roughnecks’ Dane Dobbie and the Georgia Swarm’s Jason Noble tangle during National Lacrosse League action at the Scotiabank Saddledome in Calgary on Feb. 6.Postmedia

It stood up through a hectic final minute, as goaltender Mike Poulin stonewalled Lyle Thompson in the dying seconds to preserve the one-goal win.

“I think he might have been the Flash there on that breakaway,” said Roughnecks teammate Curtis ‘Superman’ Dickson, who was his usual dominant self, scoring four times and adding two helpers. “He was looking pretty quick. I didn’t know he could run that fast.”

Harnett, a 5-foot-11, 185-pounder, has just six-career goals, but he has two huge ones in a span of eight days.

“I don’t really know,” Harnett said when asked to explain his timely scoring exploits. “I think I just kind of get lucky late in the games and just kind of shoot it on net, and it’s going in for me.

“I know that if I didn’t score, (Jeff) Shattler probably would’ve been on my case because he was following up behind. Honestly, I just kind of put it on net and just hope for the best, and it’s going in, so what can I say?”

Harnett was lucky to even make it through the game, as he caught his left leg awkwardly in the turf and left the game briefly in the first half.

“You might want to look up his shooting percentage — it’s gotta be close to 100%,” Roughnecks head coach Curt Malawsky said with a grin. “He’s pretty solid, and he’s a leader on this team because he’s a warrior, and he exemplifies what the Roughnecks are all about.

“To go down and tweak his knee pretty good on that one, but he competed and went to war — and how do your teammates not go to battle for you when you see that? I do believe in the lacrosse gods, and I do believe in karma.”

After Roughnecks starter Frankie Scigliano was given the hook midway through the second quarter, Poulin came on to make 24 saves on 28 shots to earn his 50th-career win.

“I just wanted to close the door and get a win,” Poulin said. “It had been a while, so it felt nice.”

One night after losing 19-12 to the defending-champion Rush, this was a needed win for the Roughnecks, who climb back to the .500 mark at 3-3.

“Those are wins that can really turn seasons around,” Dickson said.

In addition to Dickson’s noteworthy performance, Tyler Digby — Dickson called the 6-foot-3, 230-pounder “The Hulk” afterwards — buried a game-high five goals for the Roughnecks, while Shayne Jackson scored a hat-trick in a losing cause for the Swarm (3-3).

“I’ve been here for quite some time now, and that was up there with one of the most emotional victories or games that I’ve ever been a part of in my lacrosse career,” Malawsky said.

The Roughnecks will now get ready for a huge West Division clash with the Colorado Mammoth next Saturday (7 p.m., Fox Sports Go) at the Saddledome.

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